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Small Beginnings Start Big Stories

PREMISE

My definition of premise is the basis of a story. What is at their core?
Good storytellers can include metaphors for another area of life. Often authors
use writing to release frustration against the system and society.

Conflict

Your focus should be conflict. Things have to happen, earth-shattering events.
It could be battles, gunfights; it may be life-changing news.

Create dramatic scenes you enjoy seeing. Anything you can muster. Every scene
needs elements of conflict. If you lack ideas, think of your genres tropes. They
can be stories focus points.

Don’t worry if you make more than one enjoyable scene, but cannot see them
connecting. Add as much about what happens, what characters are at play and where
it takes place. You will soon see links.

Good vs. Evil

If your scenes involve characters, decide if they are goodies and baddies.
They may combine both qualities, or you may only have a single character. That is
fine. All ideas are welcome during the early phases of writing.

You may want to focus on characters deemed bad by society, but portray them
in a positive light. Examples of this are corrupt police officers, or honest thieves.

You can make your characters change as the story develops. Make sure you
know whom readers will root for.

Home (Visitor) or Away (Quest)

Will your scene be one scene of many that shows characters journeys? Travelogues
are frequent in fantasy. Characters check off magical towns, on their way to a
main city to defeat dragons or the big bad boss.

Alternatively, characters can receive visitors, staying in their hometown.
It could be a mixture of both, but this should let you know who main characters
are.

Comedy or Tragedy

Are these scenes funny or serious? You can blend both. You may have only
met the jokers in your gritty story crime novel, so be open when thinking about
your scenes.

Love, Lesson Learnt or Personal Growth

Who are the main characters? What would their lives be, before and after,
the drama? Will they grow? Bildungsroman is the name for coming of age and
growth novels.

Could characters be learninglessons?
You can research morals for ideas. Aesop is the moral king.

Are there lovers in your scenes? Love usually takes two, but it can be towards
objects and ideas. Love may be forbidden, unrequited or false. Are the characters
in illicit relationships?

Are characters in any type of relationship, and for what reason? What are
they trying to achieve? What do they want?

Conflict, Mystery or Search

Is your story going to be full of conflict? While every scene needs conflict,
it does not have to be all action. Many readers enjoy character relationships and
development more than constant clashes.

Are characters seeking things they lack? What characters lack can be physical,
like a person, or object. It can also be metaphorical, like new senses, such as
generosity.

Do scenes involve mystery? Your characters should always struggle while
seeking their goals. Mystery, a sense of unknowing, worsens this struggle for
characters. It breeds desperation.

Character, Fortune or Thought

Are characters personalities going to change as the story progresses?
Could this be due to maturity?

Your story could be about rising through ranks to achieve success.Will you reward characters for their endeavours?
Will they acquire new attitudes?

Quest and Return,Overcoming
Monsters, or Rebirth

You may have decided your main character is undergoing a journey. Where or
what are they journeying toward? Will they return?

Are your characters overcoming something for the greater good? Alternatively,
are they the monster, spoiling life for themselves with character flaws?

Could your characters be reborn as new people, or be going through the
rebirth process somehow? Your characters may experience one, or all of these.

Happy, Sad or Tragic

Think how your story will end. The difference between sad and tragic is the
endings significance and enormity. Think whether any of your scenes make good endings,
or whether you can create a better one to finish.

Climatic, Episodic or Non-Sequitur

Have you created incredible action scenes? Do you want your plot to be
building towards them? Alternatively, do you want continuous action? It is important
to consider. You can also write in an irregular manner, including time-jumps and
more.

Others

After creating the initial conflict, you can stop if you would like to
keep your story simplistic, with one-act. You could think of beginnings or endings
for a two-act structure, or both for three acts.

Choose one theme, or any combination you like to help you build your plot.
You may think of more unlisted.